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Overseas Koreans’ Bilingual Situation and Characteristics of Their Korean Language Learning: A Qualitative Case Study

  • The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea
  • Abbr : 사회언어학
  • 2005, 13(2), pp.193-218
  • Publisher : The Sociolinguistic Society Of Korea
  • Research Area : Humanities > Linguistics

Lee Jeong Eun 1

1연세대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

This paper examines overseas Koreans' characteristics concerning Korean language learning, and aims at clarifying the relevance between the characteristics, the bilingual situation, and solving educational problems. In this paper, cases of experiences in a Korean language classroom are analyzed utilizing qualitative methods. This study focused on students' behavior and not on their linguistic ability. As a result, characteristics are derived from two dimensions: motivation and learning. The characteristics of the motivation dimension are: 1) most overseas Koreans want to communicate with their family in Korean to feel connectedness; 2) learning Korean relates to their identity problem and cultural studies; 3) instrumental motivation promotes studying; 4) poor motivation for studying arises from parents' forcing. The characteristics of the learning dimension are: 1) verbal ability is not balanced with literacy; 2) confusion arises with the language ego; 3) the speed of learning shows a striking contrast at each developmental stage; 4) cultural gaps hinder Korean language study. As mentioned above, these characteristics can cause many problems in the classroom. Therefore, implications concerning solutions to these problems and designing customized educational programs for overseas Koreans are presented.

Citation status

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